Of Old Eyes and New Eyes
by rupzydaisy
Summary: He needs his companions, more than he'll ever admit. More than they'll ever know or understand. There's a reason why the bright blue doors open, and a reason why he goes back and makes good on old promises. If he didn't have them, he would lose himself.


_Stuff written in italics after this author's note is not mine! So, I watched Amy's choice and then I heard the songs on the radio. Lovely! And then I got thinking...maybe not so lovely...! And then tah-dah! :D _

_I hope it works..._

_Disclaimer: Doctor Who is not mine._

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Of Old Eyes and New Eyes.

_Guess he's more Xbox and I'm more Atari,  
But that don't mean I can't get you there...  
I pity the fool, that falls in love with you.  
- Forget You, Cee-Lo Green –_

For over two millennia Rory stood guard over Amy inside the Pandorica. All those years by himself, no one to speak to, no one to listen to. Just him. The Lonely Centurion left alone with his thoughts. And he couldn't help but think, and wonder.

Because when Amy woke up and the universe was all fine and dandy again, the way it was supposed to be with the stars shining in the sky, they'd carry on. Just as before. The Doctor, Amy and Rory in the TARDIS, wandering around time and space. He knew it was wrong to think those thoughts and that nothing good would come off it, because it was him being as Amy had told him _'insecure'_. But he couldn't stop himself.

He was just Rory Williams. The boy from across the road. What could he give Amy that was worth anything or just a little bit more interesting than him? He knew it was silly, no; it was beyond silly and bordering on ridiculous. He couldn't help being a little jealous, like he felt he was in competition with the Doctor over Amy.

Because with the Doctor came the TARDIS. An incredible machine and outside those blue wooden doors was the sun, the stars and the moons of a hundred different galaxies and times. And the Doctor himself was brilliant. Most definitely a madman, but he was a brilliant one. He would show you the stars, the future and the past and it completely takes you in.

Then when things get dangerous it becomes so easy to be swept along. To want to help and do whatever it takes. You go from a time traveller, an observer or a tourist to someone who ends up risking their life to help complete strangers. While Rory couldn't fault it, and he knew that they could've walked away at any point, he also knew that they couldn't leave it all without a backwards glance. Because when you've seen such sights you can't look at your own life in the same way again. It ends up feeling like it isn't enough anymore.

He couldn't fault the Doctor either. It didn't seem like he did it on purpose. But Rory had called him up on it. "_You don't realise how dangerous you make people to themselves!"_ The Doctor had blinked back at him in reply but behind the shine of those new eyes was the hurt in old eyes which could see the stark truth in that accusation which could've also been a statement.

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_If I had a heart heart heart,  
And we could go go go,  
And never look back on now...  
-What Part Of Forever, Cee-Lo Green-_

Sometimes the loneliness hit him harder than other times. Because time continued, it wouldn't stand still or end from the mad plans of the desperate Council. And he could stand still with it and turn to stone like the Weeping Angels of old because he wasn't sure that he wanted to move on, to continue when his entire race was gone. His hands dripped with the blood of two mighty races and he wasn't sure he could live with it. His family, his friends, his entire race and his greatest enemies all gone in an instant. In no time at all due to the Time Lock.

Sometimes, he wished he could scrub his eyes clean, become amnesic so that he wouldn't have to remember what he did and the consequences of his actions. Even when he regenerated, changed his face, new arms and legs, with hair not ginger and fresh new eyes, he'd still feel the shame and the guilt. The second he used the Moment he had sealed his own fate, the Last of the Time Lords. He had lived for far too long and the weight of nine hundred years was heavy on his shoulders. Always running away and never looking back because he couldn't bear to.

Because that's the thing and it turns into a problem, you live too long and associations end up taking over. A smile reminds you of an old friend. The ever used comment "_It's bigger on the inside!" _makes him laugh just as the others commented before them made him laugh. He can't help but imagine all the joy and the wonder of seeing the universe from their sparkling eyes. Seeing it all, the whole wide universe from their point of view, a human's and not a Time Lord's. So he would invite them to stay, "_just for one trip_" and one trip would lead to another, and then maybe two more, because after all, it was no time at all.

With one companion, and then another once they've left, the universe doesn't seem so cold and lonely after all. He spent time with humans, he laughed with them, cried with them, saved the universe with them, and then he felt like them. Not so much a Time Lord with a dark shadow of a past looming over him, but someone who had fresh new eyes to see everything with. And he had owned up to Amy about it, "_I look at a star and it's just a big ball of burning gas. I know how it began, and I know how it ends, and I was probably there both times. After a while, __everything__ is just __stuff!__ That's the problem, you make the whole of space and time your backyard, and what do you have? A back__yard.__ But you, you can see it. And when you see it, I see it."_

The Doctor sat in the harness under the console and tinkered with his beloved time machine. Something or the other thingy needed a little fine tuning. He looked up through the glass floor to see them sitting on the sofa, talking. Rory was retelling his story as the Lonely Centurion and Amy was listening intently of the time that passed her by while she slept on inside the Pandorica.

He would talk and she would listen until both fell asleep. The Girl Who Waited and The Boy Who Waited. The perfect match.

Amy had kissed him before, but it was only because he was in the vicinity. And the next time they had saved the world and their own lives, she had kissed Rory. The way it was meant to be. If there was any possibility of a relationship between Amy Pond and the Doctor, or a hint of a doubt between hers and Rory's, then it had been wiped away by the incident with the Dream Lord.

He was a Time Lord and Rory was human. He was destined to roam the stars while Rory could give Amy what she wanted. A house which was in proportion to its outer size, a family with her looking like a boat when she was pregnant with a mini Amy in her belly. The whole Leadworth life she would want, away from the chaos and the danger that he brought in his wake.

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Amy's choice. It had always been Amy's choice. And she had decided some time ago. Because she knew what the world was like without the Doctor. How it could be boring and that people would tell her that impossible things could never happen. But a world, or universe without Rory. It was unthinkable and she didn't want it. She just wanted him.

So, they would travel the stars with their friend, the madman in his brilliant box. And then afterwards they would start their own adventure on Earth. She had chosen Rory and the life in which she travelled along with the Doctor for a really really long time was pushed through the Void and into a parallel universe, or something along those lines. It faded out of existence while their little Leadworth life shone bright.

And the Doctor couldn't begrudge them that, as he walked back to the TARDIS and the blue doors swung shut softly after him, ready to open up in a completely different time and place to welcome another traveller or two to see the wonders of the universe with the madman in charge of it.

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_Review please :D _


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